But if recent reports that she monitors her employees' remote data connections are accurate, she could have fired the slackers who failed to log in rather than demanding that all workers get back to the office.

CNN: Benefit of office face time a myth

Virgin said it did not have the rights necessary to offer it over 3G or 4G phone networks - although other functions such as setting a Tivo recording from a remote location would be possible via cellular connections.

BBC: Virgin launches streaming internet TV service

Villagers in a remote region of Laos that has neither electricity nor telephone connections are being wired up to the Internet.

ECONOMIST: Internet connectivity

LaBrot said he knew of the need in Honduras and Panama, and connections he had made in those countries enabled him to reach remote communities there.

CNN: Bringing health care to the world's most remote areas

Today comes news of an initiative from one of the more remote parts of the countryside, where people are clubbing together to give themselves the kind of broadband connections that would look respectable in South Korea, never mind South London.

BBC: DIY fibre broadband